Kibaki warns against indictment

2008-07-21 21:35

Nairobi - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki warned on Monday that any bid to put Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on trial for war crimes in Darfur would prove counter-productive.

Kibaki said international efforts would be better expended on seeking a lasting solution to the violence in Darfur, rather than bringing Bashir before courts "that may not have an understanding of the conflict".

"Any isolationist policy against the sitting government of Sudan will be counter-productive," Kibaki said in a statement released after talks with Bashir's special envoy, Bonal Malual.

The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court in The Hague asked for an arrest warrant against Beshir last week, for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.

Sudan has rejected the request as damaging to Darfur peace hopes, and the AU warned the indictment of Bashir would create a power vacuum that risked "military coups and widespread anarchy".

Kibaki said the best way forward in Darfur was through the offices of the regional East African Inter-Governmental Authority on Development and the AU.

"What we need is a genuine peace process that brings together all the parties in the conflict, so as to end the conflict that has led to great suffering for many people," Kibaki said.

- SAPA